Hydraulic cartridge with independently-operating pistons.



D. V. SICKMAN. I 1 HYDRAULIC CARTRlDG E WITH INDEPENDENTLY OPERATINGPISTONS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY13.19|5.

1611161 July 11, 1916.

UNITE STATES A E OFFICE.

DAVY VANCE SICKMAN, OF DENVER, COLORADO.

HYDRAULIC CARTRIDGE 'WITH INDEPENDENTLY- OPERATING PISTONS.

To all whom it may concern: a

Be it known that I, DAVY VANon SICK- 1\IAN,-L citizen of the UnitedStates, residing in the city and county of Denver and State of Colorado,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in HydraulicCartridges with Independently-Operating Pistons; and I do declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact descriptioniof the invention,such as will enable others skilled -in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,and tothecharacters of reference marked thereon, which form a part ofthis specification.

My invention relates to improvements in hydraulic cartridges of theclass adapted for breaking down coal or other material in mines, myobject being to provide a construction of this class of such characterthat one or more of the pistons of the bar, may be operatedindependently of one or more other pistons, thus making it practicableto control the ejection of the pistons of the bar, as may be desired;

A cartridge of this class consists of a bar provided with chambers inwhich are located pistons adaptedto be ejected by liquid under pressurefor purposes of breaking down the coal or doing other similar or likework where great power is required and but little space allowed foroperating purposes.

Heretofore so far as I am aware no provision has been made in this artfor the controlling of' theejection of one or more of the pistons of acartridge of this class, while one or more other pistons remain idle'orinactive or are more slowlyejected than the others. 1

In my improvement two distinct conduits are provided one being incommunication with a number of the piston chambers and the other incommunication with other piston chambers of the same cartridge. One ofthese conduits may be termed the main conduit and the other theauxiliary conduit, the latter being relatively short and incommunication with the main conduit just beyond the breast of the bankof coal or other material-to be broken down, the communicat-Specification of Letters Patent.

, Patented Jun I11, 1916.

Application filed July 13, 1915. SerialNo. 39,684. i I

ing passage between the main and auxiliary j conduits 'being'controlledby a valve with which the'auxiliary conduit equipped.

. Having brieflyoutlined my lmproved construction,1 will proceed todescribe the same in detail, referencebeing made to the accompanying'drawing in which is illustrated anj embodiment thereof.

In this'drawing,Figure1 is atop plan vlew ofa hydraulic cartridgeequipped with my improvement. Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on theline 2-2, Fig. '1, show- ,ing two of the pistons partially ejecteda Fig.3 is a fragmentary top view illustrat mg the right hand -extremity ofthe'con- 'struction shown in Figs. 1 andyQ, but illus- 'i 1' trating theconduit members beyond or toward the right. Figs. 4 and 5. arecross sec-I tions taken on the lines 4-4; and 5-5, Fig; 1, shown on a largerscale. Fig. 6 1s a cross section taken on the line. 6+6, Fig. 3, look-'ing toward the left, shown on a larger scale. Fig. 7 is a sectionsimilar to Fig. '5, but with the pistons and the tubes carried 'by thebar removed.

' The same reference characters indicate the r same parts in all. theviews.

Let the numeral 5 designate the 'bar; of

bar is formed close to the roof and between the latter and thebank ofcoal to be'broken. Each of these pistons is provided with a gasket orcup leather 8 held in place by a washer or securing plate 9 secured bycap screws 10 or other suitable fastening; devices. The pistonsareprevented from entirely escaping from their chambers by means of stoplugs or relatively short'plates 12 held in place by screws or otherfastening devices 13, the said lugs having tonguesila whichenter grooves15 formed in the opposite sides of each piston. The upper extremities ofthe grooves 15 are closed as shown at 16 forming shoulders which engagethe tongues of the stops, when the pistons have been ejected to thedesired limit.

In-my improved construction I employ a main conduit 17 and an auxiliaryconduit 18 for introducing the liquid under pressure for piston ejectingpurposes. The main conduit as shown in the drawing is centrally arrangedwith reference to the longitudinal'axis of the cartridge bar and itspassage 19 is in communication with a perforation 20 extendingtransversely at the forward end of the bar, its outer extremity being incommunication with the forward end of a passage 21 in a tube 22 which islocated in a groove 23 formed lengthwise of the cartridge bar and openon one side to receive the tube. This opening may be filled with anysuitable material for the purpose of protecting the tube and securing itin place, or it may be brazed or electrowelded in place. It is moreeconomical and satisfactory to employ tubes in open grooves in bars ofthisiclass, than to attempt to bore long passages through the bars. forthe liquid or other fluid to be employed. Furthermore if a tubeshouldget clogged or stopped up while in use, it could be readilyremoved from the bar for the purpose of over-coming the difliculty,whereas if a long passage formed in the solid portion of the bar shouldbecome stopped, great difliculty might be experienced in cleaning itout. Tubes 22 may be made of such material that they will withstand thepressure of the liquid, and they have the advantage that they may bereadily put in position and removed. The passage 21 of the tube 22, isin communication with the chambers 6 of the rearmost two pistons 7, bymeans of passages 24, but the passage 21 is not in communication witheither of the chambers 6 of the foremost two pistons 7. These last namedchambers, however, are in communication by short passages 25 with thepassage 26 of a tube 27, set into a groove 28 formed in the oppositeside of the bar from the groove 23, the passage 26 being also incommunication with the auxiliary conduit 18, which is in communicationwith the passage 7 19 of the main conduit by a branch passage 29 leadingto an opening. 30 which terminatesin aperforation 31 in communicationwith the passage 32 of the conduit 18. The passage of liquid from themain conduit to the auxiliary conduit is controlled by a valve 33 havinga hand wheel 34 accessible beyond the breast of the bank of coal orother material to be broken down.

The manner of tapping the tubes 22 for the purpose of placing theirpassages in communication with the piston chambers of the bar, isillustrated in Fig. 7 which it may be assumed is taken on the same lineas Fig. 5. A hole 35 may be bored from the top of the cartridgedownwardly in such a manner as to intersect the passage of the tube 27while another hole 36 may be bored from the outer surface of the barinwardly, its inner extremity communicating with the inner extremity ofthe piston chamber, but intersecting the bore. The outer portions of thebores 35 and 36 may then be plugged as shown at 37 and 38.

The manner of tapping the tube 22, is substantially the same as employedin connection with the tube 27, and therefore need not be explained indetail, the arrangement of the passages '35 and 36, being indicated bydotted'lines in Fig. 7 i

From the foregoing description it will be understood that in the use ofmy improved cartridge, if the valve 33 is closed, the liquid will enterthe rearmost two chambers 6 alone and eject the corresponding pistons 7.If the operation of these pistons is sufficient to break down the blockof coal, the foremost 'two pistons need not be operated. However, shouldthe latter 'be needed it will only be necessary to open the valve33 whenthe liquid will pass into the chambers '6 of the foremost two pistons,and eject the latter for the purpose of completing the coalbreaking-down act.

This construction of cartridge is exceedingly advantageous as comparedwith those cartridges of such construction that-the pistons aresimultaneously or approximately simultaneously subjected to theinfluence of the liquid pressure, since with this last named style ofcartridge, the pistons which are nearer the front face of the block ofcoal, will be first ejected and the degree of their ejection will be inproportion to their nea-rness to the forward extremity of the cartridge,since the nearer the piston is to the front end of the cartridge andconsequently the nearer it is to the front face of the block of coal,the less the resistance to its ejection. Consequently if all of thepistons from front to rear are simultaneously subjected to the action ofthe fluid under pressure, the rearward pistons will be but slightlyejected, while the force of the fluid. will be expended upon the pistonsfarther in front, with the result that the front end of the block ofcoal only will be broken down, making the work exceedinglyunsatisfactory. My improved construction of cartridge as set forth inthis application is adapted to overcome this difliculty, since the fluidpressure may be applied to the rearward pistons only, until such time asthey have been sufficiently ejected to need the cooperation of theforward pistons, in which event the latter may be advantageouslyutilized. The fluid may be applied-to It is-preferred to employ a valve40 located between the branch orifice 29 and the forward extremity ofthe bar, so that the passage of the liquid or other fluid under pressureto the rearwardly located piston chambers, may be regulated andcontrolled independently of the passage of such fluid through theauxiliary conduit 18 to the forwardly located piston chambers. In otherwords by employing a valve 40 located as stated and as indicated in Fig.3, of the drawing, it becomes practicable to regulate the speed oftravel during the ejection of the rearwardly located pistons as comparedwith the forwardly located pistons. For instance if the fluid in equalvolume were delivered to both sets of pistons, the forwardly locatedpistons would travel much faster than the rearwardly located pistons forthe reason that the latter are subjected to greater resistance, due tothe greater difficulty. in moving the block of coal downwardly, thenearer the pressure is applied to the adhering rearward wall. As it isnot desirable that the forward part of the block shall move faster thanthe rearward part, owing to the tendency that such operation would haveto break off the forward end of the block leaving the rearward endadhering, by virtue of the employment of the two valves 83 and 4:0, Imay deliver a relatively greater volume of fluid to the rearwardlylocated pistons than to the forwardly located pistons and by virtue ofthis difference in volume may cause an even travel of the two sets ofpistons, or cause them tov travel in such a manner as to advantageouslycooperate in the performance of the coalbreaking-down function.Furthermore it is evident that by the employment of the two valves thefluid may be cut off from either set of piston chambers, while it isallowed to pass to the other set of chambers. should also be understoodthat there may be one or more auxiliary conduits. While only one isshown in the drawing, it will of course be understood that an additionalnumber may be employed if desired and as the additional one or moreother auxiliary conduits, would be mere duplication it has not beenconsidered necessary to illustrate such construction in the drawing.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is,

1. A hydrauliccartridge having a plurality of piston chambers, pistonstherein and means for introducing fluid under pressure to certain ofsaid chambers independently of other chambers.

2. A hydraulic cartridge having a plurality of piston chambers, pistonstherein, and a number of conduits for carrying fluid under pressure, oneconduit being in communication with one or more chambers of thecartridge and another conduit in com 3. A hydraulic cartridge having anumber.

'of piston. chambers arranged at suitable intervals from front to rear,a conduit in communicatlon with the.rearmost chamber, and

" a distinct conduit in communication with the foremost chamber.

4;. A hydraulic cartridge including a bar having a number ofpistonchambers arranged at suitable intervals from front to 7 rear, a mainconduit having its passage in communication with certain rearwardlylocated chambers, an auxlllary condu1t whose passage 1s 1n commun catlon.Wltll certaln forwardly located chambers, and means for A trol of thefluid through the respective concutting off the fluid supply from oneconduit while it is passing through the other conduit. v

5. A hydraulic cartridge having a number of piston chambers suitablyspaced from front to rear, a main conduit having its passage incommunication with certain rearwardly located chambers,- an auxiliarycon-- duit having its passage in communication with certain forwardlylocated chambers, the two conduits being in communication by a branchpassage, and a valve for controlling the passage of fluid from the mainto the auxiliary conduit.

6. A hydraulic cartridge composed of a 1 bar having piston chambers, andtubes setinto grooves formed in the bar and having their passages incommunication with the piston chambers.

7. A hydraulic cartridge consisting of a bar having piston-chambers, andtubes set into grooves formed in the bar, the said tubes being incommunication with the pis-' ton chambers, and means for securingthe'tubes in place- 8. A hydraulic cartridge having a plurality of pistonchambers, pistons therein, and means for controlling the introduction offluid under pressure to certain of said chambers independently of otherchambers.

9. A hydraulic cartridge having a plurality of piston chambers, aconduit leading to one chamber, a second conduit leading to anotherchamber, and means for equipping each conduit to permit the independentcon- 7 duits.

10. A hydraulic cartridge having a plurality of pistons arrangedlengthwise thereof from front to rear, conduits in communication withthe respective p'istonchambers, and means applied to each conduit forregulating'the passage of fluid therethrough, independently of suchpassage through any other conduit. v

11. A hydraulic cartridge equipped with a'number of piston chambers andpistons,

the "volum Of fluid introduced to the re- BES VMIQI'YCIIVI'ELL,s'Pcti've ctinduit's. A. EBE'R T OBRIE'N.

